Mountain pygmy possum

Burramys parvus

Blamed on foxes

IUCN status: Critically Endangered

EPBC Predator Threat Rating: ****

IUCN claim: “Predation by the introduced Red Fox is also a threat”

Studies in support

Possums were found in fox scats in three studies (Green & Osborne 1981; Green 2003; Davis et al. 2015).

Studies not in support

No studies

Is the threat claim evidence-based?

There are no studies linking foxes to pygmy possum population trends.

Evidence linking Burramys parvus to foxes. Systematic review of evidence for an association between Burramys parvus and foxes. Positive studies are in support of the hypothesis that foxes contribute to the decline of Burramys parvus, negative studies are not in support. Predation studies include studies documenting hunting or scavenging; baiting studies are associations between poison baiting and threatened mammal abundance where information on predator abundance is not provided; population studies are associations between threatened mammal and predator abundance. See methods section in [current submission] for details on evidence categories.

References

Current submission (2023) Scant evidence that introduced predators cause extinctions.

Davis, N.E., Forsyth, D.M., Triggs, B., Pascoe, C., Benshemesh, J., Robley, A., Lawrence, J., Ritchie, E.G., Nimmo, D.G. and Lumsden, L.F., 2015. Interspecific and geographic variation in the diets of sympatric carnivores: dingoes/wild dogs and red foxes in south-eastern Australia. PloS One, 10(3), p.e0120975.

EPBC. (2013) Threat Abatement Plan for Predation by the European Red Fox (2008). Five yearly review. Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, Government of Australia (Appendix E: EPBC Act listed threatened species).

Green, K. and Osborne, W.S., 1981. The diet of foxes, Vulpes vulpes (L.), in relation to abundance of prey above the winter snowline in New South Wales. Wildlife Research, 8(2), pp.349-360.

Green, K., 2003. Altitudinal and temporal differences in the food of foxes (Vulpes vulpes) at alpine and subalpine altitudes in the Snowy Mountains. Wildlife Research, 30(3), pp.245-253.

IUCN Red List. https://www.iucnredlist.org/ Accessed June 2023